Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de Leon continued to return to familiar themes of maintaining and expanding Latino political power in a secretly recorded conversation that forever changed his political career.
De Leon was heard on the recording saying he wanted his East Side neighborhood to “remain Latino” even after he was gone. He lamented the lack of political influence wielded by Latinos in Los Angeles, especially when compared to the black community.
Currently, de Leon is on the verge of losing his seat, largely due to a scandal surrounding a recording containing vulgar and racist language. If he loses after a four-year term, Latinos will only hold four of the 15 seats on the City Council, which represents half the city’s population, at any given time.
On Wednesday, tenant rights attorney Isabel Jurado had a double-digit lead over De Leon in a district that stretches from downtown to Eagle Rock. If this trend continues, she will become the first Filipino-American to serve on the City Council.
It also means that the 14th District, which includes heavily Mexican-American neighborhoods such as Boyle Heights and El Sereno, will be without a Latino representative for the first time since 1985, when Richard Alatorre won the seat.
During the campaign, de Leon argued that Jurado’s victory would come at the expense of “Latino voices.” Jurado said her victory allows the city to “finally close this chapter in Los Angeles’ history and move beyond its past record.”
Throughout his campaign, Mr. Jurado grilled Mr. de León over his participation in secretly recorded conversations that took place in 2021 and became public in 2022. In the recording, then-council President Nurie Martinez can be heard making disparaging remarks about Mr. Dist. Lawrence. Atty. Georges Gascon: “Huh, that guy… he’s on the black team.”
In an interview Wednesday, Jurado said he disagreed with de León’s emphasis on strengthening Latino power, saying it was “sowing the seeds of racial division.”
Jurado, the daughter of illegal immigrants, grew up in Highland Park, became a single mother at age 18, and relied on food stamps. Her life story is 61% Latino, 16% white, and 12% Asian. , according to the 2020 U.S. Census, 6% are Black.
“We built a big tent, and it was a coalition of multigenerational, multiracial, multiethnic people, and it really reflected my background,” she said.
Los Angeles City Council candidate Isabel Jurado receives a hug from a supporter at an election night party.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Councilman Hugo Sotomartínez, who campaigned for Jurado, said he spoke about issues that Latinos care about, including the need for “good union jobs.”
“Her immigration story resonated with the Latinx community,” he says.
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk will continue counting ballots for at least another week. Mr. Jurado could widen his lead in the coming days, as late-arriving ballots in the Los Angeles race tend to skew politically to the left.
When Mr. de Leon began his re-election campaign last year, audio scandals had already ended the political careers of two other big-name Latino leaders. Both Mr. Martinez, a former City Council president, and Ron Herrera, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Associations, have resigned from their positions.
(A fourth participant in the secretly recorded conversation, Councilman Gil Cedillo, had lost reelection by the time the audio was made public.)
In the recording, de Leon said that LA Latinos are not having their voices heard politically. In comparison, 25 black people sounds like 250 people, he said.
“When there are 100 of us, it sounds like 10,” he said.
The audio also included an ugly exchange about then-Congressman Mike Bonnin’s black son, who is white and gay. Martinez said Bonin carried her son around “like an accessory.” In response, de Leon said Martinez was “like when he brought a Goyard bag or a Louis Vuitton bag.”
De León apologized for things he said and didn’t say during the conversation when he was running for re-election in 2022. But in legal filings, he opened up, saying he “never made any comments that were even remotely offensive.”
“His critics continue to plead guilty in connection with comments that did not belong to him,” de Leon’s lawyer said in a lawsuit targeting two people he allegedly recorded. “There is,” he said.
Immediately after the scandal, a wide range of politicians and community leaders called for Mr. de León’s resignation. Protesters set up camp outside his house. Mr. de Leon disappeared for about two months before rejoining the council.
Virginia Miranda, a Boyle Heights resident who voted for Mr. Jurado, said Mr. de Leon should have objected to the offensive comments during the hour-long meeting.
“He was in the room when the incident happened, but he didn’t stand up. He didn’t say anything, but he hid for two months because (the protesters) were outside his house.” said Miranda, a semi-retired sign language interpreter.
Mr. de Leon did not respond to inquiries from the Times through a campaign spokesperson. On election night, he told supporters he felt it was important to stay in power and fight for his constituents.
“I own it and I’ve apologized. I haven’t given up on you,” de Leon told the crowd.
Bonin said in an interview that he was satisfied with Tuesday’s results and expected Jurado to expand the bloc of ultra-progressive members in Congress. At the same time, he said he was personally satisfied.
“I can tell my son that people are responsible for their actions, and that’s reassuring,” he said.
El Sereno resident Luis Ortiz, who submitted his ballot Tuesday, dismissed the audio scandal, saying de Leon’s comments were taken out of context. Ortiz, 70, particularly praised the work of city council members cleaning up the streets in his Boyle Heights neighborhood.
“I’ve seen a lot of improvement,” said Ortiz, who voted for de Leon.
Mark Kraus, campaign coordinator for the Los Angeles Democratic Socialist Party of America, was among those celebrating Jurado’s double-digit lead on election night. Last year, DSA-LA sent more than 300 volunteers to knock on Jurado’s doors.
Krause, 37, who grew up in East Los Angeles, said identity-based voting, the idea that Latinos should support other Latinos, doesn’t make the East Side more representative. Ta. That’s why younger voters aren’t particularly interested in the idea, said Krause, who is also Latino.
“At least in my generation, when it comes to elected officials, what you stand for matters,” Kraus said at DSA’s election night party at Audio Graph Beer Co. downtown. he said.
The audio leak scandal could have yet another chapter, one that revolves around the issue of Latino voting rights. 2 years ago, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has launched an investigation into the city’s redistricting process, a major theme in the secretly recorded conversations.
In recent months, Bonta’s legal team has questioned whether the City Council’s district maps are sufficiently representative of Latinos and drafted legal documents asking the city to draft new maps.
As a new City Council member, Jurado may end up deciding how the city should respond.
Times staff writer Gustavo Arellano contributed to this report.
